Why does my MSP look different from other MSPs?

[Toasty]

Ok, i am trying to figure out why my car looks different from every other 03.5 msp i have ever seen. its 03.5 #986 if anyone was wondering, so yes i am sure its not an 03 with a new wing and paint job.

my front bumper appears to be from an 03 msp/p5 with mesh inserts instead of fog lights. i have not been able to find a single picture of an MSP with a front end exactly like mine.

my rear lip appears to be from an 03 msp also.

i am the second owner of this car, the original owner put a turbo timer on the car and nothing else from what i can tell. the carfax was clean when i bought it in 2006 leaving me boggled as to why the front bumper and rear lip would be different.

seeing as how i bought it from a dealership (apparently original owner traded in for a lexus is350 when the current gen first came out) i was unable to talk to the original owner to ask any questions and the dealership didnt know anything about the car, they thought the racingbeat stuff was aftermarket. any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

and on the off chance that the original owner peruses these boards, i got it at Sterling McCall Lexus in Houston, so if it was yours please explain!

 

[repthemazdas]

all thats diffrent is the rear skirt and the front has the protege5 fog delete kit thats it.

 

[repthemazdas]

o and the rear skirt is off a mp3,

 

[TNmsprotege]

Maybe the previous owner had that stuff put on maybe something happened to the bumper and he got the 03 instead of 03.5.

 

[yudkib]

you dont have the front 03.5 lip, and have deletes instead of fogs. you also have the mp3/03msp rear skirt as mentioned

 

[yudkib]

Maybe the previous owner had that stuff put on maybe something happened to the bumper and he got the 03 instead of 03.5.

its the same bumper just no lip

 

[Wagonbacker9]

This may be the car from the houston CL a while back. they claimed it had no accident damage when it had a sedan front bumper. I sent em an email basically bitching them out for lying about it, and they rescinded.

wait.. you've had the car since 06? is that a really old pic? why do you have a temp plate on it?

that is definitely an 03/MP3 lip, the ti-grey MSPs only came in 2003.5 trim, so either its repainted, or has body panels changed out... presumably due to accident damage.

 

[Toasty]

yes, i want to know WHY? is the only explanation im gonna get that somebody wanted to drop a bunch of money to replace perfectly good stock parts with other perfectly good stock parts? im sorry but i just cant seem to figure out a reason for why anyone would do this unless the car had been in an accident and the dealership or body shop or whatever was retarded and ordered the wrong parts, however as i stated before the carfax was clean. is there some goofyness going on like some 03.5s were sent out with different stuff?

@wagon yes that is an old pic, i took that when i first got the car and i havent changed anything so its still relevant, i dont even live at that house anymore.

how likely is it that carfax wouldnt pick up accident damage, the report when i bought the car showed nothing but oil changes and inspections. i mean its not like im complaining, i think the car looks good, but i just want to know why it looks different from all the rest.

 

[yudkib]

its probably a not-legit carfax. the guy hit a telephone poll or something, drove it home, then took it in to his buddies paint shop, stripped the lip since its out of production, and painted the damage. ta-dah.

sorry to be the bearer of (assumed) bad news by the way. he also could have had fogs and just liked the 03 lip better.

 

[Wagonbacker9]

no, no 03.5s came looking like that. my bet, someone had an accident and paid cash. only shows up on carfax if its reported to insurance...

 

[Laser Blue]

o and the rear skirt is off a mp3,

Not necessarily... the same lip came on the '03 MSP (the orange and black ones). The front of your car is simply missing the '03.5 lip. My guess is that the car was in one or more accidents that didn't trigger carfax reports (not reported to insurance companies, for example); prolly little fender benders that damaged both stock lips. In the front they put in fog delete grilles rather than replace the lip. In the back they replaced the skirt with the '03 version instead of the '03.5. Look at the bright side.... you're semi-unique!
Oh, and for the record, I too have the '03 skirt on my '03.5 MSP; just because I like it better (my '03.5 skirt is in storage) lol

EDIT: I got ninja'd... too slow to post, I guess.

 

[Toasty]

ugh, well i know the car doesnt have any frame damage or anything, at least according to the techs at the dealer i bought it from, so i guess its not a big deal. i need to replace the rear bumper and skirt anyway so i guess i could just get a 03.5 version when i do.

also unless those flares around the fog holes on normal 03.5s are part of the lip assembly and not the bumper cover then i have a 03 bumper and im not just missing a lip.

 

[Laser Blue]

I just noticed that your exhaust isn't '03.5 oem either... Looks a lot like the '03 exhaust tip, but I can't tell for sure from the pic.

 

[Wagonbacker9]

also unless those flares around the fog wholes on normal 03.5s are part of the lip assembly and not the bumper cover then i have a 03 bumper and im not just missing a lip.

the bumpers between 03, 03.5, and MP3 are all identical, and are the same as the P5 bumper as well, minus a couple holes for a corner marker.

 

[Laser Blue]

ugh, well i know the car doesnt have any frame damage or anything, at least according to the techs at the dealer i bought it from, so i guess its not a big deal. i need to replace the rear bumper and skirt anyway so i guess i could just get a 03.5 version when i do.

also unless those flares around the fog holes on normal 03.5s are part of the lip assembly and not the bumper cover then i have a 03 bumper and im not just missing a lip.

You're exactly right... the flared edges around the foglight holes on the 03.5 ARE part of the add-on lip.

 

[littlemimus]

maybe he just liked the look better?

 

[Toasty]

I just noticed that your exhaust isn't '03.5 oem either... Looks a lot like the '03 exhaust tip, but I can't tell for sure from the pic.

hmm, well it is a racingbeat exhaust, at least thats what it says. must have got bumped in the rear and then decided he didnt like the front lip or something, oh well. could someone post a pick of what a 03.5 exhaust should look like? and is there a performance difference between the 03 and 03.5 exhaust?

 

[Wagonbacker9]

hmm, well it is a racingbeat exhaust, at least thats what it says. must have got bumped in the rear and then decided he didnt like the front lip or something, oh well. could someone post a pick of what a 03.5 exhaust should look like? and is there a performance difference between the 03 and 03.5 exhaust?

no difference performace wise between 03 and 03.5. however there is a racing beat aftermarket exhaust which MAY be different (I don't know), but it wouldn't be MUCH different anyway.

 

[Laser Blue]

Here's another, showiing the '03.5 muffler tip with the '03 rear skirt.

 

[Toasty]

yeah the tip doesnt look like that, its a little more oval shaped. upon closer inspection i can actually see that there is still some leftover glue on the front bumper from where he pulled off the lip, doh. i always thought it was tree sap or something hahaha, anyone know how to get that s*** off? rubbing compound and clay bar dont seem to do anything.